Patrick Holder
Senior Principal Scientist, Protein Chemistry, Drug Discovery
"Discovering drugs requires the patience of a gardener—there are a lot of weeds and sometimes seeds don’t sprout; but if you’re tenacious, those sprouts can grow up to nourish the world. We have the tools—let’s get our hands dirty."
My scientific training includes macromolecular synthesis and bioconjugation in the Chemical Biology Graduate Program at UC Berkeley, and subsequent post-doctoral research in time-resolved spectroscopy of radical transport in enzymes in the chemistry department at MIT. I previously held research scientist positions at Redwood Bioscience (Emeryville, CA) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (Redwood City, CA) where I developed methods for site-specific antibody-drug conjugation.
I moved to the Department of Protein Chemistry in Genentech Research in 2017, and I hold joint appointments with the Department of Research Oncology and the Department of Cell Therapy. Our lab is focused on the design and discovery of the next generation of therapeutics at the interface of protein engineering, protein chemistry, and cell engineering.
Postdoctoral Mentor
Postdocs in our group have the opportunity to craft multidisciplinary projects at the interface of drug discovery, chemical biology, and cell engineering in collaboration with experts from across our research organization. It is a true pleasure to see the vision and enthusiasm of postdoc fellows come to life in the vibrant community of Genentech research.
Featured Publication
Translational PK/PD and the First-in-Human Dose Selection of a PD1/IL15 Targeted Cytokine: An Engineered Recombinant Fusion Protein for Cancer Immunotherapy .
Frontiers in Pharmacology . 2024